Interim Senior FP&A Manager in Bath, Somerset

Full time hours

Hybrid working: Typically, 3 days in office and 2 working from home

Competitive salary + Benefits

6-12 months interim contract with potential for permanent employment

Westerleigh Crematorium Head Office (Near Bristol)

Are you an experienced and qualified FP&A Manager with strong finance business partnering skills looking for an interim role where your expertise will have real impact? If so, we would love to hear from you! We are one of the largest independent operators of crematoria in the UK, supported by 500 empathetic and dedicated individuals. We have big ambitions; to grow and invest in our sites, maintain our vision, further develop our colleagues to provide best in class facilities for our customers.

The role:

Finance is on a journey to becoming a trusted and commercially minded finance team that delivers excellence in the fundamentals while partnering the business with constructive insight, challenge, and support. We use data-driven decisions to strengthen performance, optimising Westerleigh service, and securing the long term sustainability of our crematoria and cemeteries helping to balance value, service & quality.

You will be supporting the Head of FP&A in delivering all aspects of financial planning, budgeting, forecasting and performance reporting across the Group. This role acts as the second-in-command within the FP&A function, capable of holding the fort and ensuring continuity of leadership during periods when the Head of FP&A is engaged in strategic projects, investor reporting or external activity.

You will lead the monthly reporting cycle, help compile SLT and board packs and drive insightful analysis, support operational and commercial decision-making, and help develop a high performance, business partnering culture across Finance.

Key responsibilities include:

• Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting
• Lead the quarterly reforecast processes, ensuring alignment with PE expectations and Board timelines. Provide clear updates to the board, aligning SLT members ahead of submission to CFO and CEO for review.
• Develop models, scenario plans and sensitivities across material P&L and cash flow lines including revenue, cremation volumes, memorialisation, payroll, rent and rates and multi-site cost bases.
• Support long range planning and investment cases, including new crematoria developments, refurbishments and capacity expansions.
• Maintain a Risk and Opportunity log, assessed for value, likelihood and effort and providing a range of outcomes for the coming year and the following year outturns.

Management Reporting & Insight:

• Own the monthly performance pack across P&L, cash flow and KPIs, ensuring clear narrative, variance analysis and actionable insight.
• Analyse cremation volumes, market shares, pricing, memorial sales, labour trends and operational efficiency metrics across the estate.
• Partner with the MDs for Core and Distinct and Site Managers to drive improvements in conversion, cost control and memorial performance.
• Post-evaluate significant investment and provide tracker of latest IRRs and Payback, for example our Personalised Chapel technology investments.
• Develop and improve monthly capex reporting, for both long-term construction of crematoria projects and shorter-term capex projects, automating where possible.

Business Partnering:

• Act as a trusted adviser to senior stakeholders across Operations, Property and Distinct.
• Provide financial insight to support decisions on pricing, margin management, procurement initiatives and productivity improvements.
• Support SLT preparation for Board meetings, investor reviews and site performance deep dives.

Holding the Fort / Leadership:

• Deputise fully for the Head of FP&A when required, ensuring continuity of reporting, planning and stakeholder engagement.
• Coach and support the FP&A Analyst and BI Systems Developer on a day to day activity basis, helping to build modelling capability, analytical discipline and business acumen.
• Maintain strong governance, ensuring data accuracy, consistency and adherence to financial controls and reporting standards.

Projects & Continuous Improvement:

• Lead analytical work on strategic projects such as new site openings, capital investments, memorialisation initiatives or pricing reviews.
• Develop an operating one pager sign off process, alongside procurement improvements.
• Enhance reporting tools and processes, supporting the evolution towards a more automated, insight-driven FP&A function.
• Collaborate with IT/BI to improve data availability, dashboards and self service insight for operational leaders.

What We Offer:

• Opportunity to influence a growing, values-led national organisation.
• Exposure to senior leadership and private equity stakeholders.
• A role with genuine responsibility and scope for progression.
• Opportunity to be part of significant improvement programme.
• Possibility of moving from Interim to Permanent.

About you:

• Qualified Finance professional CIMA / ACCA / ACA or equivalent.
• Experienced FP&A Manager / Financial Planning & Analysis Manager or Commercial Finance Manager background, ideally within multisite, consumer services, healthcare, infrastructure, hospitality, retail or PE backed environments.
• Demonstrable experience running budget cycles, management reporting, financial modelling and finance business partnering.
• Experience leading or mentoring small teams.
• Exceptional analytical and modelling skills.
• Ability to translate numbers into insight and clear recommendations.
• Good storytelling, strong communication skills, able to engage senior non-finance stakeholders.
• Highly organised, calm under pressure, able to operate independently when required.
• Comfortable in a purpose driven business where empathy, quality and professionalism matter.
• Power BI knowledge.
• Advanced Excel/Google Sheets.
• NetSuite or SAP experience or similar.
• Solution 7, IBM TM1, Anaplan or equivalent experience in maintaining models and clean master data.

What We Offer:

If you would like to join the Westerleigh team, you can be sure of a warm welcome, ongoing training and development and a sense of pride by truly making a difference every day to the families we serve. No two days are the same and many of our Managers have developed their careers within the business.

The values we champion are Safety First, Exceptional Care, Uniquely Personal and One Team.

In addition to salary, you will also be eligible for the following benefits:

• Life Assurance
• Access to a wide range of retail discounts and wellbeing support
• Ongoing learning & development
• Pension scheme
• Employee Assistance / Occupational health support Program
• Headspace: Mindfulness App
• Mental Health Ambassadors
• The benefit we hope you'll never need: Free Cremation benefit for Immediate family
• Bereavement Leave
• Enhanced maternity & paternity pay
• Recognition scheme
• Free Flu jab
• Employee discount at onsite café
• Free parking

What next? Start a career with significance by applying today.